BANGALORE: Making the first public declaration of his wealth, Congress' Nandan Nilekani said he and his wife Rohini hold assets worth Rs 7,700 crore, by far the highest for any candidate in the upcoming general election. To put it in perspective, it is twice the amount government spent up to December on the Unique Identity Authority of India, the agency that Nilekani headed as chairman until earlier this month.

"I am proud of the fact that my wealth is completely transparent," said Nilekani, the co-founder and former Infosys CEO who is pitted against BJP's Ananth Kumar in the Bangalore South constituency. "I haven't made any money illegally, or hid it in investments outside the country. Nothing is hidden in someone else's bank account. It is all completely transparent, and tax-paid." Nearly 80% of the couple's wealth is in the form of shares of Infosys.

Donated Rs 400-cr since 1999

The rest of the money is in financial assets, a spokesman for Nilekani said without providing details.

"To the best of my knowledge, Nandan is handsomely winning" when it comes to being counted as the wealthiest candidate, said Trilochan Sastry, a trustee at the Association for Democratic Reforms and a professor at Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore. But in 2004, N Nyimthungo Lotha, a candidate from the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland, declared assets of over Rs 9,000 crore. His wealth, he said, was derived from 15 sq km of nonagricultural land that he owned.

Sastry, whose organisation compiles data on wealth declarations by candidates, said Nilekani was only following the law of the land. "He did not have a choice anyway. But it's a welcome move."

The wealth of rival Ananth Kumar, a five-term MP, was nothing as eye-popping as the Nilekanis'. The BJP candidate told the Election Commission that he has cash in hand of Rs 75,000 and a bank balance of Rs 6.39 lakh. His wife Tejaswini has Rs 1 lakh cash in hand and bank balance of Rs 1.42 lakh. Kumar has LIC policies worth Rs 22 lakh, Tejaswini worth Rs 13 lakh and daughter Vijeta Rs 4.33 lakh. Tejaswini also owns properties worth about Rs 3.6 crore. Nilekani, who was CEO of Infosys between 2002 and 2007, declined to comment about Ananth Kumar's assets.

On the other end of the spectrum, AAP Ideologue and its candidate from Haryana, Yogendra Yadav, has Rs 2,000 cash in hand, according to a declaration filed by him with EC. According to a 2011 declaration, Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party was the richest minister with assets of Rs 122 crore. At Rs 173 crore, Nama Nageswara Rao of Telugu Desam Party, was the wealthiest MP. The Nilekanis have been generous givers, too, donating about Rs 400 crore since 1999 to causes in the areas of education, water and governance.

Rohini, who sold a portion of her shares in Infosys last year for Rs 164 crore, is using the money to back social ventures by providing grants to individuals and organisations in the areas of governance, legal services, environment protection and new media.

"I started out with Rs 200 in my pocket when I graduated from IIT," said Nilekani, who resigned from Infosys in 2009 to join the government. "The biggest thing the money Infosys brought me is the freedom to do what I want. And what I want is to give millions more the opportunities I had."